


Failure to Protect

by Pholux_TWG, WizWitch



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Also a little bit of..., Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Autistic Huey Duck, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Huey Duck Needs a Hug, Nightmares, Nonbinary Dewey Duck, Sibling Bonding, just a little bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27205282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pholux_TWG/pseuds/Pholux_TWG, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizWitch/pseuds/WizWitch
Summary: The surprise reveal of F.O.W.L. looming over the McDuck family has taken everyone by surprise, but one particular member of the family has been drowning in guilt over recent events...A fun collab between myself and WizWitch!
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck, Huey Duck and Dewey Duck and Louie Duck
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	Failure to Protect

**Author's Note:**

> A fun little collab between myself and WizWitch, here's hoping that Escape From the Impossibin doesn't disprove it timeline wise akdjfad  
> For reference, "Rex" is Huey's dinosaur stuffy, a headcanon from yours truly :3  
> I wrote the first half, Wiz wrote the second half, signified by the dashed line. Enjoy!

It all happened so fast, the way his siblings were grabbed and thrown into that blasted portal...even after having to relive the experience, everything still felt like he was only really registering it one extra second after the fact. **  
**

In the moment, all he knows is that his siblings have been taken, and he needs to help them...

............

...he...he can’t move. His legs...he feels them, they’re not mush, but they just.

Won’t move.

Why? Why can’t he move? It’s the one time he needs to do it, but his body isn’t complying...

_Please, I need to help them, they’re in danger! Why can’t you just MOVE!?_

His heart starts racing even faster, his eyes beginning to sting ever so slightly. He feels his breaths shorten.

He still can’t move.

Then the buzzard turns around, and begins to move closer and closer. He doesn’t say anything.

His face...Huey can’t understand it, the way he looks so relaxed yet so stern...like taking away his siblings right in front of his face didn’t spark any semblance of emotion out of him.

He’s barely any taller than the boy, but...he’s never felt so small. So weak. So powerless.  
  
So incapable of controlling the situation.

He still can’t move.

The tears start falling...he wants to fight it, he has to fight it. He’s not small and weak, he’s strong! He needs to be, for his siblings! He’s supposed to be the angry one, who stands up to anything that dares to harm his baby siblings.

_Why can’t I stop crying? Why can’t I fight back? Why am I STILL NOT MOVING!?_

The next thing he knows is that the buzzard has him by the shirt collar, staring him down with the same emotionless face as before.

His mouth won’t move past being slightly open. He feels even smaller right now.

The buzzard leans closer.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you supposed to be “the mature and responsible one”?”

Huey still can’t respond. He still can’t move.

“Look at you, you can’t do anything right. I take away your siblings and all you do is stand there?”

_No, it’s not my fault, it all just happened so fast!_

“You could have done something, but you didn’t. How weak.”

He feels himself getting dragged closer to the portal. The buzzard looks down at him again, right in the face, and he feels even more tiny, like a measly ant in his cold, firm grasp.

“Maybe, next time, you’ll remember not to meddle with things you don’t understand. Of course, there may not be a next time for you.”

Shakily, he finally finds himself able to mutter a single word…

“Please…”

“Farewell, Duck. I wonder what your siblings will say when you meet them again...if you even will.”

Next thing he knows, he feels like he's flying, and all he sees is the RAMROD’s rays getting closer and closer, and just as he connects with it…

“NO!”

...

...it must have been a dream... _just a dream, Hubert, just...a dream._

The first thing he did upon waking up was start sniffling. The water builds up in his eyes, and he has trouble fighting back.

For all the blankets he had over him...he’s never felt so cold.

For half a minute, he tries to get up, but can’t...were he not able to eventually move, he would have figured he was still trapped in his dream. He had never felt so relieved to do so little as move a finger.

The first thing Huey’s always tried to remember to do to calm down during a night like this is to get a grip on his surroundings...he sees his blankets, he feels how soft they are on his exposed feathers and webbed feet. He looks at his sleeves and the rest of his pajamas, and feels how soft they are as well...he also feels a little droplet of water drop falling from above his eyes...he’d been sweating throughout his nightmare, and after feeling the dried tear stains already on his face, he concurs he’d been crying as well.

He touches his hat...first his nightcap, at the back of his head, and then the bill of his baseball cap. Feels the same as usual, but right now it’s another form of comfort and establishment for the boy.

But he needs more comfort, he needs more safety, so...he moves his hand around but…

...he can’t find his JWG, nor can he find Rex. 

His breathing speeds up, frantically moving his blankets and looking at every square inch of his bed ten times over.

He still can’t find them.

He starts squeezing the ball on his nightcap, and begins squirming a little...he feels his tummy tighten up, his sparse sniffles turning into soft sobbing.

And then he hears the sounds of flopping blankets and shifted mattresses below him...  
  
 _Just great, looks like you ruined the night for everyone._

\--------------------

One of the disadvantages of sleeping in a bunk bed with his siblings--if any of them moved around, it’d jolt around the other two and often end with everyone being awake.

He hugs himself a bit as he hears his siblings below him. He can’t make out any words or anything, but their voices cut through the sleep-and-panic-induced brain fog he has.

They’re... They’re safe.

‘ _No thanks to you_ ,’ a voice in the back of his head points out, and he squeezes the ball on his hat harder. Despite the changes from what actually happened, his dream ultimately was right--he couldn’t protect his siblings when Bradford threw them into that other dimension.

His chest tightens at the memory. If he hadn’t tried to confront Bradford about his suspicions with Dewey and Louie right there...

Movement on his mattress pushes him out of his thoughts, though he doesn’t look up at the source.

“Huey? Are you okay?"

He needs to answer. Preferably in a way to ease his little siblings' worries--the two of them were incredibly shaken up by those nights in St. Canard. 

And they have every right to be. 

Just a small assurance of being okay... that won't come out. 

Great. 

"... You dropped Rex and your guidebook."

Huey slowly brings his gaze up to see Louie on his bed, holding the two items, while Dewey is on the ladder. 

Both are looking at him with concern. 

Huey uncurls enough to tap his chin and bring his hand down before accepting his things from Louie. Needing to sign instead of speak probably wasn't helping their worry, but there wasn't anything else for him to do. 

Hugging Rex close helps him calm down at least, and so does having his JWG in his hands. 

After a small moment of calming himself, he manages to quietly say, "I'm sorry I woke you..."

"It sounded pretty bad," Dewey says as they crawl from the ladder onto the bed next to Louie. "Was it a nightmare?"

"I'm fine."

“That’s not what I asked.”

Huey sighs and hugs his stuffed dinosaur closer. "You guys should get back to sleep. It's late, and I'm sure we're going to need to get up early..."

A silence passes over the triplets. After learning about FOWL, a looming threat started hovering over the manor, and the fact Scrooge wanted to prepare for the worst was both easing and worsening it. If their home wasn't safe… 

"Sorry," Huey says, lowering his gaze to his blankets. "Everything's going to be okay..."

"I hope so..." Dewey answers before letting out a yawn. “Bed sounds good, though...”

Louie nods, and before Huey can say anything else, Louie crawls over until he’s next to his big brother and wraps his arms around him. “Can we stay up here with you?”

“Uh, okay... Dewey? Do you want to join?”

To answer, Dewey simply crawls closer so they’re hugging Huey from the other side as Louie.

Huey closes his eyes and hugs his siblings back. They were safe. And he would keep them that way. 


End file.
